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Summer House Santa Monica

After what feels like a lifetime of Polar Vortex misery, Chicago’s bone-chilling cold is still showing little sign of letting up, so what better to get us through those last wintry months than a little taste of summer? Here’s where Summer House Santa Monica comes in – styled to evoke a SoCal beach house, the dining room (or ‘Vitamin D Room’) has been decked out in sunny colours, hanging ferns, a retractable glass roof that lets in rays of sun, and a cockle-warming wood-fired oven.

California born and raised, chef Jeff Mahin (Stella Rossa Pizza Bar, M Street Kitchen) has brought over a classically LA-style health conscious menu of bright bites such as yellow beets with avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds, fig vincotto and a citrus dressing; or fresh burrata (flown in daily from his favourite California cheesemaker) with grilled celery root and Fresno chile. The wine too is California-sourced and boasts a pinot noir list seventeen varieties long, although a touch of Chicago is evident in the slew of rotating craft brews, from Ballast Point Calico Amber to Stone Smoked Porter. Thankfully, brunch is a stretch more indulgent (as it should be) with a menu of Bloody Marys with candied bacon garnish; hash brown eggs benny; and corn tostada tortillas, with pulled chicken, queso ranchero, a dollop of avocado and sunny eggs. Summer’s here! Well...almost.